Hello and welcome to another edition of the Rouse Review. I'm City Manager Dan Hoffman. And with me is PIO, Sarah Farai. Hi everybody. This is the, uh, getting over the flu edition of the Ross Review. Sarah, uh, has not, have you not had it yet this season? I haven't, but everybody else in my family has, and I had walking pneumonia. So, yeah. Oh, well, yeah, that kind of checked the box there. You probably had it already. And it was at the same time all of my kids had the flu. Did you get your flu shot? I did. Oh, see? My flu shot worked. And my kids were only out for like two days each because of the flu shot. I swear. You're right. I should've got it. Oh. I didn't, I just, I slacked on it. We have an employee clinic that makes it so easy. I know. I know. It is all on me. It's all on me. I hate needles a lot, but I should, I should be, uh, I should put on my big boy pants and just go get my flu shot. But nope, I did it now and I paid for it. So you'll still hear a little of a, a little of that in the old, uh, sinuses as we chat, but we made it through. I'm on the mend. I'm pretty sure this flu has rolled through half the city staff. So I think we are all happy for flu season to be over with. Uh, but we do have a lot to be happy about. Uh, last week we swore in our new police chief, Ronnie, uh, and fantastic reception. It broke my heart. I couldn't be there because of the flu, but. Best that I not get the entire police department, uh, sick, uh, that would be bad. Nobody wants to be patient zero. No, no, I do not want people to say, Hey, why did the police department shut down? It's cause Dan Hoffman, the city manager, got them all, gave them all the flu. But no, the reception for Ronnie was fantastic. Uh, we are so excited to have him on the team. Um, and you know, that won't be the first, that won't be the last new chief. Uh, we have, I think is if you read the paper, folks also noticed that we have a, uh, a retirement coming up. Chief Henschel is going to be retiring in April. He's taking a very cool new position over at the Winchester rescue mission. And, um, I think that's going to be a fantastic. Uh, for kind of what he wants to do in his next chapter. Uh, he has, you know, contributed so much to the health and safety of the city of Winchester. And really was a, a, a great help to me, uh, when I first came on as we were getting the, the ship back on track over in the fire department. So, uh, thank you to Chief Henschel for everything you've done for the city. Uh, welcome Chief Ronnie Lewis. I know you're going to do great things. And, um Beyond that, it's just been budget season. So that's all little thing. It's just, just budget season, budget season and Richmond season legislatures in session. So, uh, I think in the coming weeks, you're going to hear, uh, I think residents are going to get some updates as to how things landed. This is a quick session in Richmond. It ends at the end of this month. And, uh, There are some things we are actively tracking and hopefully things that will not pass. Some things we hope do pass. We want more tools related to blight. Uh, we want additional money for school construction, especially given the capital needs over quarrels elementary. Uh, we want more money for police officers through the five 99 fund. Um, what we would love. to not do is continue to saddle us with unfunded mandates, uh, like this current bill related to Grafton, like, um, their attempts to, uh, take revenue away from us or put a cap on, uh, certain revenue streams that we rely on that won't affect them, but will definitely make your property tax go up. So, um, we're keeping an eye on all that. You know, so far, I think things have generally been going well down in Richmond, but Uh, we'll we'll do an update at a future podcast podcast on how things ended up in session um Tomorrow night. We do have a council meeting Provided the weather holds out Knocking on wood. We're anticipating the possibly a little weather. Uh, so do check the city's website And social media social media if the city is closed Um on tuesday There is a, tomorrow, there is a decent chance that the meeting might be cancelled, so stay tuned, uh, pay attention to it. There are only two real substantive things on the, uh, on the agenda, so I don't anticipate, knock on wood, that it will be a long meeting. The zoning changes for the neighborhood design districts, um, down at Ward's Plaza, uh, not Ward's Plaza, Mm mm. Cedar Valley district. Thank you. The Cedar Valley neighborhood. Uh, that, um, that's been rolling through, but that's something that's been discussed a lot. Um, and it's, it's really the more technical aspects of what we're trying to do over there. So that's going to come through and then a resolution of sorrow for a former counselor who passed away, counselor glass. So not a lot on the agenda. Um, um, I, you know, of course, we always welcome folks out, and if we are, um, if we do end up having the meeting. show up. It means it's safe to come out and do it. Speak your piece. Use public comment. You can talk about the budget if you want. Um, but please do, but do check before you come out. Uh, if the weather's kind of crummy, just make sure. Also you can always sign up to get emails and text alerts from the city on our website and you will find out about it that way too. Please do. That is an excellent way to get, uh, really the, the most late breaking updates from the city on closures and all that kind of good stuff. So that's the deal for tomorrow night. Um, I will make a quick note about the budget and where we're at in the budget. We have now, um, started our committee meetings. We had our first committee meeting on department budgets, uh, last week during the finance committee, which is up on social media and YouTube. If you would like an easy way to find it, you want to go watch it, be better informed before you just start. spouting off about the budget, check out these, watch these videos, check the committee meetings. Because that's really where we discuss line by line all of the department budgets. It's where the counselors ask questions. It's, there's public comment available at the beginning of every one of them. So if you want to show up at a committee meeting, you're more than welcome to come and speak your piece about the budgets of the day. All of the material is available prior to the meeting. So you can look and see, um, the, the latest. draft budget information. The, um, we do occasionally bring new information to the meeting. Uh, that's very common this time of year. It's mainly because we're getting information in real time as well as we're putting this budget together. We don't, there's a lot of stuff we don't know yet. Uh, because we're still fairly early in the process. We don't know how much our health insurance is going to go up. Obviously, we have to pay for that. Um, there are a few items where we're waiting on the state. There's a couple of items where, um, we're waiting for new projections, new revenue projections. So, there occasionally will be late breaking information we bring into these committee meetings, but all of it, It is recorded. All of it is available. Um, so you can show up, you can participate, uh, you can view it online at your leisure. Now, where we are, the city council, um, has given me a range. We are anticipating that our revenue neutral rate, which for those of you who don't know what that means, the revenue neutral rate means that we, um, the assessments, which For the last two years, which we just did, everyone's homes went up about 13. 5 percent over two years. Not just in one year, folks, over two years, um, those numbers, if you don't feel that number is accurate, there's a way online for you to challenge that. Um, I will tell you, don't, the assessments are almost always lower than market value. If you feel like it's outrageously high, yeah, ask the question, um, you know, reach out, ask for, uh, the property assessor to give it another look. We're happy to do that. Um, but we, you know, we, we do this, we put the assessor puts eyes on every property. They don't just go on Zillow. Um, it, it is a pretty laborious process to get to these numbers. And like I said, generally they're, you know, a good 20 percent less than the actual market value. So, um, um, The assessed rate is definitely, is almost always, you know, uh, a fair number, I would say. Uh, you might not like that it went up, and we did not adjust it up. The market did that. You know, this is a great place to live. Um, it is, you know, we're going to talk about all the amazing restaurants. Fantastic schools, great park systems. This is an attractive place for folks. So that means it's in more demand and that means your prom values are going to go up. Now, our current rate is 83 cents. To earn the exact same amount of money that we had last year, off of property tax, City Council would have to reduce the rate by 10 cents to the revenue neutral rate. Great. Um, Building a budget around 0. 73 and no additional revenue is very different than building a budget around 0. 83. So 0. 73, no new revenue, significant budget cuts. Because there are going to be things that go up that we can't control. So I have to, I would have to at some point offset for fuel costs, for landfill costs, for health insurance premiums. Um. And then of course I got to factor in some type of cost of living increase for employees. So building a budget around 73 cents, um, very different than 83 cents. Council decided, um, to narrow that range a little bit. They know that we do not need to stay at 83 cents. So we're actually, it's, in all likelihood, we are going to be lowering your tax rate this cycle. Um, 73 cents they felt was a bridge too far. Um, that would mean, uh, probably pretty significant cuts, not just for the city, but the school system as well. Um, a lot of times folks ask, well, not a lot more, we don't have a lot more people living here, or our population hasn't gone up that much, how much, why has our budget gone up, or why it's deferred maintenance for the most part, guys. You can't kick the can down the road on an old city and not expect to have to pay for it at some point. Third oldest water system. Third oldest water system. We talk about that all the time. And the analogy I always use is that, you know, we are a beautiful, the city of Winchester is a beautiful old house. If you live in a beautiful old house with your family and the roof needs to be replaced, you don't say, well, it's unfair that I have to replace the roof. I haven't added any more kids. My family hasn't grown. It doesn't matter. Um, the infrastructure is the infrastructure. If we have to replace our radio system, if we have to replace, um, water mains, all of that is either born by the current residents here through property tax or new development or a mixture of both. We. As much as people might want to think that we have out of control development, we do not. We do not. We add a few hundred, you know, not even a few hundred. We add probably less than 200 units every year on average over the last decade. Um, That development, if it is a multifamily development, it probably does have a positive financial impact, but not a ton of stuff comes online. We have a little over, I think, right around 3000 units, a little, maybe a little bit more 3000 units in the pipeline. But half of those will never get built. And, you know, at the end of the day, If we're going to have slower growth to retain the quote unquote charm people always talk about here, and we do, we have charm. Um, that just means the, the coming bill, the coming deferred maintenance is going to be borne by the people living here. Um, That's why council decided to bump the meals tax by half a percent last year, because most of that revenue comes from outside of the city. Same goes for our hotel tax, but we're trying to fit in as much as we can at the lowest rate possible. So council has given me guidance that it should be somewhere between 76 and 80 cents. That's not binding. They could still go lower. They could still go higher, but that's where we're crafting a budget right now. Over the course of the next few weeks as we go to public health and safety committee, planning and economic development committee, back to finance committee, all of those committees are going to weigh in on the, the specific requests that I'm making, um, that those are big requests will be four new firefighters, two new police officers, an additional community paramedic, These are all things that we've been kicking the can down the road on. We needed to add two officers last year. We added one. We needed to, we've needed to add four firefighters for three, four years now since I got here. Um, we've been hoping for some federal money, kind of giving up on that unfortunately, but we need to add the 40 firefighters and our community paramedic program is at capacity. So those are the really the big discretionary asks along with a respectable Cola for staff. Inflation has been in it right around 3%. So at a minimum, I'm asking for a Cola of around 3%. That is over 900, 000 right there. So there are a lot of things that we need to do to keep, make sure our obligations We maintain our, and fulfill our obligations, not just to the city and to our, um, staff, but really to the people that lend us money. Uh, we are triple a rated community because we take care of our stuff and because our finances are in good order and our tax rate is reasonable as much as people, I'm sure people would disagree with that. We are the second lowest independent city in terms of tax rate. We are not at the high end of our various, you know, tax levers we can pull. So that is a quick update on where we're at with the budget. Uh, it is never an easy process. Um, Counselors ultimately make all of these decisions as well. So, uh, I, yes, I run the day to day operation. They give me the resources with which to do it. If they give me fewer resources, we make do with fewer resources. If, um, if they give me more resources to make strategic investments like in public safety, wonderful. Um, but we'll see. Ultimately all of this is in their court. Uh, feel free to reach out to them. If you have any questions or concerns about items in the budget, um, feel free to reach out to set city staff, myself or city staff. If you just want to know more about. Something in the budget or if you have questions about the process and good time to plug on our next episode We're going to be doing a budget mailbag. There you go. Budget mailbag. Send in your emails now to Sarah with an H dot Frye F R E Y at Winchester VA gov There you go, and we'll pick out the questions and answer them here on the podcast Send them on in send them on in and I will You All right, uh, so we're going to take a quick break, do some coming ups, and then in a moment, we're going to talk to Joel Richardson about Restaurant Week. Stick around. February's a short month, but a busy month. So, we've got some great stuff going on in the city. First thing though, President's Day is next Monday, February 17th. That means city offices, the park rec center, and the courts are all closed. And your Monday recycling pickup is going to be moved to Wednesday. Also, this is new, Winchester Transit will be operating on schedule. Yes, let people get around. Next up, you heard Dan talking about our new police chief, Mr. Ronnie Lewis. You get to meet him in person. The North End Citizens Association is having a meeting at the Douglas School on Wednesday, February 20th at 6 p. m. The entire meeting is dedicated to getting to know Chief Lewis. He's going to introduce himself and then take some Q& A from the community. So, stop by, get to know him. What a wealth of experience and knowledge in policing and public safety in general. So, stop by, get to meet our new chief. And last, but certainly not least, February is Black History Month. And Winchester has a huge range of events, from a self guided driving tour that you can pick up at the, uh, tourism office, gospel tribute concerts, trivia nights, and even an essay contest that the school system is running. You can learn more about all of it at www. winchesterva. gov slash, and this is all one word, Black History 2025. Alright, welcome, friend of Old Town and friend of anybody in the city who has met him. Joel Richardson. Nice to see you, Joel. So Joel, um, I'm gonna let you introduce yourself. Uh, although I don't know if you need much of an introduction because It's possible. I don't know and if you don't, that's on you. Oh my gosh. I feel like it's someone that's on you. Well, thank you. No, I try to be a man about town once in a while. He does and you do a very good job And in large part everyone knows you because you volunteer so much of your time into making Winchester better so And one of the ways you do that, and there's a variety of ways, uh, but one of the ways you do that is through friends of old town. And that's part of why we're here today. Talk about restaurant, restaurant week as well. Uh, so real quick, give me a quick introduction of yourself. What, Maybe just a The Reader's Digest abridged version of the Joel Richardson story. Uh, and uh, who is Friends of Old Town? Well, that's, well, thank you, Dan. Um, so, I'm Joel Richardson. I'm a, the co chair of the event for Friends of Old Town, restaurant week. Um, we got this started, oh gosh, 11 years ago, maybe more, because we wanted to showcase the restaurants that are in the city of Winchester. Um, there's a lot of small businesses in Winchester. It's one of the reasons why I chose to stay here and make my home here. Um, I'm incredibly, uh, attached to the community only because in many ways, everyone shows up for each other and there are so many interesting things happening that it's an easy fit for anyone to come and enjoy. So, um, one of the reasons why we set up Restaurant Week is because we felt it was an excellent way to showcase all of our businesses. And sort of ask them to do something new, creative, to highlight their skills and something that maybe they wouldn't be normally doing. And you're on the board of Friends of Old Town and they're helping put this together. Who is Friends of Old Town? So Friends of Old Town is the Virginia Main Street partnership non profit with the city of Winchester. It helps to administer everything from programming to grants to initiate things like this. Friends of Winchester. Showcase businesses that, um, also attract, uh, outside, uh, visitors and, uh, help improve the community and make the whole community better for everyone who lives here. Well, there you go. It's almost like you've thought through it and you have a plan. Well. So, and, uh, one of the, I think one of everyone's favorite events, um, is Restaurant Week. Uh, and of course, if anyone's listened to this. Podcast whenever we've had a local restaurant or some type of business come in to talk about food. You know that I Greatly enjoy food, and it killed me that last week when I had the flu, I couldn't do the, um, the Village Square interview or the T. T. Walls interview, because obviously those, uh, well, Village Square is a cornerstone of The Walking Mall, as anybody familiar with Winchester knows. Yes it is. Uh, T. T. Walls is a new addition, uh, created by the folks that have Taylor Wine Pavilion, uh, another place that you should definitely check out. Crab cakes there. Yes. Top notch. Uh, I've not been in T. T. Walls yet. It's brand new, and it's, it's tough to get in. Tough to get in. Make your reservations. I hear it's fantastic, but, um, so tell me a little bit, before I start, uh, rambling about food and the dip, my favorite thing at these various places, what's, uh, tell me what, uh, Folks can expect when they go into a restaurant week restaurant. All right, so let's get to the basics It runs Monday, February 17th through Sunday, February 23rd We're up to 30 restaurants participating and it they I'm sorry the restaurants are all over town. I'm so excited about this We have not just Old Town, but all over Winchester Please check out our website Winchester restaurant week because it has a full listing of the restaurants their menus You When they're participating, um, because some restaurants are choosing days that they're able to, uh, support this, and of course, uh, the options are all there, um, and there are many, many, many options for the restaurants. Yes, there are. Yes, so, uh, The idea is for Restaurant Week is that each restaurant offers something at a special price. Sometimes it's a multi course, uh, prefix menu. Sometimes there are some discounts. Uh, sometimes there's just specialties on the menu that wouldn't normally be there. And that's pretty awesome. Uh, the prices range from 35 to 55. I think there's a couple that are, um, near the 100 mark, but that's includes a lot of options. Um, and so that, that's the other app So there are, how many restaurants are we up to now? Do we say thirty? Thirty restaurants. Most we've ever had. That's fantastic. Incredible. Yeah. And uh, some of them, I think I've eaten at almost all of them. Except for some of the really brand new ones. But, uh, you've got a little bit of everything. Antejutos Mexicanos, some of the best mole in town. Uh, and, uh, Newish location. They've been there for a little while now. But they're now up on North Loudoun. That's correct. Over near the bowling alley. Over near the bowling alley, thank you very much. They're not over on South Loudoun. Down by The high school anymore. If you guys remember that location, but different locations, same fantastic mole. So, and there's tacos. Like, can I just really, how perfect those tacos are? They are so fantastic. In fact, we did a little podcast there. Or in the early days of this podcast. I was going to say that predates me. I would have. It definitely predated you. And it was, man, I had a tripe taco. Oh, yes. That's one of my favorites. It brought out all the odd stuff for me to try. That's awesome. There's a joke in there somewhere. Yep. That's awesome. They knew their audience. Um, Bonnie Blue, a cornerstone off the mall. Um, another one off the mall, but again, if you've driven through Winchester, you probably, good chance you've driven past Bonnie Blue if you came down Anmer. So, uh, Of course, they smoke everything in house. They're a secret little thing. People might not know if you don't do gluten, make sure you get the macaroon. The macaroons there are fantastic. And if you ever need the cinnamon rolls, you better call early on a weekend morning. Everyone needs those. Yes. You don't ever not need them. Um, Cork Street Tavern, which a lot of you might know because it's grandfathered in and still has a smoking section. It is clearly a very old establishment. Very much, I mean, it's got tavern in the name, and boy, their game is tavern food. And they knock it out of the park. They knock it out of the park. Every year. I would tell you also, The salad. Mm hmm. Interesting. If you go get the spinach salad there and ask for chicken on top, it is really outstanding. It's nothing crazy. Mm hmm. It is simple, but they do a fantastic job with it. Uh, lemme pop around a little bit here. Duck donuts, they've come in before. Mm-hmm Uh, if you don't have diabetes, uh, go check out duck donuts. Uh, and they also even have gluten free, or, um, not just gluten-free days, but vegan days. So if you're vegan, you go vegan donuts. There you go. Treat yourself. Treat yourself. That is a fantastic, uh, place to get a donut. Um, let's see. Bouncing around here. Italian Touch right over just south of the Walk In Mall. Some new owners. So new menu. Yes, indeed. I had no idea. Yes, indeed. I know. I'm very excited. New, new and, uh, they just are doing some minor renovations as well. So. There you go. Check them out. Hot, fresh gossip off the press. Joel knows all the gossip. He knows everything. He is the, he is the word on the street. Okay. So Italian touch, uh, cavy kebab. That's over in the shopping center with Martin's off of South Pleasant Valley. You know, it's kind of hidden, right? You know, if you, if you blink, you're gonna, you're gonna miss it there in the shopping center, but. But, you know, not a lot of places you can get a good kebab in town. I was going to say, we've been sorely lacking kebab places. Yeah, if you're on your target run, be sure to go over there. It is delicious. It's awesome. Um, let's see. Okay, I'm going to stop at Roma for a moment here. Roma, right here in the walk in mall. Yes, indeed. It is beautiful. It's one of those places you walk in, it feels a little old school, like old school Roma pizza place, blah, blah, blah, but the Greek food on the menu is outstanding and I think, I think there's some, the owner is uh, Greek I believe, or it got some type of connection there, but they're specials, you can never go wrong with the food there. No. No. And so if you walk in thinking it's, it's oh, it's a beer and pizza kind of place. Dude, explore the menu. It is worth the time. And that's my favorite salad in Winchester. Absolutely. Yes. Everyone talks about it. In the lunch special, there's fantastic meals. Oh, so nice. It is a fantastic deal. Uh, let's see. Sexy Mexie. Of course, uh, actually I'm going to see Christy here in just a little bit. Uh, stop in, get yourself a, a bowl or a burrito. Uh, that is what they are known for. And then Cider House, relatively new. Again, we've, we've mentioned gluten a few times here. If you can't do beer, and you want to go to a place that's a little more gluten friendly, head on down to the Cider House. Um, I already referenced the Wine Room at Taylor Pavilion, Crab Cakes on Point, Uh, and, you know what? Oh, Dan and Dee at Village Square might be mad at me, but I think their bar, I think their bar program over at, uh, their cocktail menu, go in there, sit at the bar, talk to the, talk to the guys. There's a younger, younger crew there. A little, I think, uh, the, the owner's son is one of the, uh, one of the leads over there and man, they, they really like making cocktails. They're very creative. It comes through. They're very creative. Great bourbon selection, great bourbon selection. So right up there with village square guys. They serve their Hendricks gin with cucumber the right way. Yes. I'm just saying. Check you out. Not everybody does that. I didn't know you were a gin person. All kinds of secrets over here. On a very special episode of And so we, Taylor Wine Room, like I said, we interviewed T. T. Walls. That's their their new place. Union Jacks, new ownership as well. Correct. New owner, former employee. New owner, I love the story, fantastic. Uh, Jason, right? Jason. That's right. Just lovely guy and you know what? It's cliche, but the fish and chips there is really good, right? I mean, they do a good job. They know what they they know what they do I don't need to dive into Village Square and all the fantastic things that they have there Dan and Dee do an amazing job there and Water Street little tip if you're going to Water Street, and you're just kind of feeling like A little peckish and you want a few little things, get a sides plate. That is the only thing I order except for the grilled cheese. The sides plate there, it's now off my go to because I love some lima beans, not a lot of places can get lima beans in town. And you get their brussels sprouts. They don't do a sides plate anymore? No they do, sorry. Most places don't have lima beans on the menu and it's a staple for me. I love it and they do it the right way with a little bit of sugar. Yeah, I love a lima bean. So check those, excuse me, check those places out. And um, Violino, last but not least, Violino, uh, Wonderful family, lovely family. Um, you might know them if you're walking downtown around Christmas, sometimes during events, they'll be out roasting chestnuts. It's them? Yes. Hit me up, right? Yeah. That's right. And, uh, just such a nice little, little treat. And, I tell you, everything they do there is High end stuff. It's a fancy dinner kind of place. Yes, absolutely. We kind of bounced over Saver, um, as well. You know, good fancy, good occasion place too. Absolutely. Get dressed up and go. Birthdays, anniversaries, just because. Exactly. When my in laws are in town and I gotta impress them a little bit. Violinos, boom. Saver, great. You know, and we, we, by mistake, we skipped over Crush, too. Crush, Saver, same owner. Correct. Crush has been around for a while now. A little while, that's right. And they're Tracy's been at it. Yeah, and if you like, uh, they got a lot of fun little things over there at Crush, too. You order on a tablet, which is kind of neat. The cocktails and the wine sometimes takes, uh, A lot of the attention, but don't sleep on the food there. The food there is, is very good. Don't, don't let the, all the love they put into their drinks make you think they skip on the food. The food is fantastic. Um, so this has all been a, a lesson in why I've gained weight since I moved to the city of Manchester. Um, anybody, anybody else? I know we were adding new folks all the day. Anybody else? The only plug I'm gonna have is the Old Town Diner. Um, only because brand new, they just opened. So good. Haven't been in yet. Oh, it's good. It's good. And we haven't had a breakfast place on for a while. Yeah. And he is, Hunter's doing an excellent job. So, who? Hunter? Hunter is the owner and operator and he's doing a wonderful job. And so even if we have a restaurant week option for breakfast, I feel like we're, we're out knocking outta the park. No, that's awesome. Um, they also had a phenomenal meatloaf on the menu for lunch a couple of weeks back as a special. Ugh. Really? So they are open for lunch, too. They are open for lunch. Interesting. Over there, right across from Snow White Grill. Yeah. Which, by the way, I know they're not on the list, but Snow White Grill reopened, new owners. That's right. But it tastes like childhood. I know. As a native, can I just tell you, it tastes like it did when I was a little kid. That. was not true for a very long time. Spectacular. There you go. And, you know, there's other places we didn't, uh, we don't have time to mention today, but, um, really whether you're on the walking mall or making your way around the city, so many fantastic food options, you know, that there, there's a reason why, uh, we earn a significant amount of revenue off of our meals tax. Uh, thank you to everyone who goes and, and eats at their favorite restaurant. Uh, there are. And there's also a reason why 94 percent of our meals tax revenue comes from outside of 22601. That is enormous. 94%. 94 percent of Come from outside the city. That means we are an attraction. That means it's this fantastic core restaurants that draws folks in, uh, because we are the dining and shopping kind of destination for the Northern Valley. So, um, anything else folks should know where should folks go for more information, Joel? Go to winchesterrestaurantweek. com or watch Facebook and listen to I Heart Media. They're a partner sponsor, so we'll be on the radio, um, Chris and Lori will be making their way around town as well. Awesome. Um, talking to folks and um, trying things out and we all know and love them, so. Fantastic. Yeah. Amazing. I'm so hungry already. Me too. It is about time. It's my favorite time. Alright, Joel, thanks for coming. Fantastic seeing you buddy. I'm sure I'll see you strutting around town. I'm sure you will. Thanks Joel. Appreciate it. Welcome back. Uh, we just chatted with Joel and now we're actually going to do some interviews with some of the restaurants we talked about. Uh, Village Square, Dan and D over there, uh, Sean over at TT Walls and Marshall at Saver. Um, we recorded these last week, uh, partially when I had the flu. So unfortunately I was not able to do the thing I was really looking forward to doing, which is going and talking food with some of these folks. So you're going to hear Kit. interviewing Dan and Dee about Village Square, uh, also Sean over at T. T. Walls, and I will be talking with Marshall over at Saver. Woohoo! Excellent. Hang out. All right, folks, welcome to our first interview about Restaurant Week on site with Restaurant Week. You've already heard our little introduction with Joel. So now we're here at Village Square. Unfortunately, Dan Hoffman can't be with us because he's got the flu. So you're stuck with Sarah and Kit Redmer, Communications Director with the City of Winchester. Hi, everybody. In addition to Kit, we've got the owners of Village Square. Hey everybody, Dan Calvert here. Chef Dan, as you know me. Dee Sursak here. Can't even pronounce my own name there. Hope everybody's doing well. It's funny because that's actually why I had Dee introduce himself, but that's okay. Sometimes my last name gets me too. It makes me feel better knowing it's not just me. Absolutely. Well, thanks for having us here today. Um, so I want to kick off with the fact that Restaurant Week is not new for Old Town, Winchester, or Winchester in general. No, no, no. We've done it for a long time. Yeah, we've done it for a very long time. Which is amazing. Since like, what, 2014? Yeah, 11 years this year. Yeah, it's our 11th year this year. Yeah, we're doing, it's been around a long time. And we used to do two days, two, uh, weeks a year this, uh, now we focus on One solid full week with a lot of restaurants. I mean, I think this year we have more restaurants than we ever have had participating, um, which is really nice. And restaurants are kind of throughout the city instead of just downtown centric, which is an exciting thing, uh, for us. Uh, because, you know, that, that, that, that's more of a, you know, kind of a destination thing where people are coming to Winchester, uh, to try our food around the city, um, you know, from neighboring counties. And, uh, it's, it's pretty awesome. That's fantastic. Um, and you guys, like I said, have been participating since the beginning, but what makes you keep coming back and wanting to do it each year? Like, what's in it for Village Square? VillageSquare. I think the thing, the thing for, D, D, D can attest to this is, um, you know, it, it, it works. It works. It, it gives us a way to kind of showcase some things that we do throughout the year, um, on a scale, uh, you know, for, for a lot of people for a really good price. Um, or, you know, and it gets people in the door in a time of the year that, that's typically just awful. Um, so, yeah. You mean, you mean the middle of February and winter isn't like the hottest time for the walking mall? Nah, actually it's the middle of an ice storm. This is, this is probably the worst year that I can remember just with snow and cold and, you know. And you just keep coming. And yeah, we're just looking, so, we're looking, you can talk into the mic, Dean. Oh, sorry. I'm just not used to, you know, using my voice, just. We're looking forward, I mean, we look forward to it. We get to pull in wines that we wouldn't otherwise pour by the glass. And people are using, you know, I know other restaurants have been doing a lot of research and using ingredients and dishes they haven't done before. For us, we like to, we like to bring back old favorites. That were really, you know, popular seven or eight years ago that people asked us for. And, yes, you know, so it's a thing for us. We like to bring back dishes that people love. Yeah, let's talk a little bit about that guys. So, specifically your menu, you're talking about bringing back some dishes. Specifically, do you have any new entrees that you're offering this year or anything special that folks can look forward to? I think the big one entree for us that we're going to do this year is a churrasco style beef. It's an Argentinian style marinade. Um, we char it really nice over the charbroiler fire. Um, and it's a, it's a, it's a pretty nice dish. And then this year we're bringing it back. A dish that I did 20 years ago on the menu and people still talk about. And it's just, uh, it's a salmon Oscar. So it's a nice grilled salmon. Uh, it comes with a lump crab risotto, uh, hollandaise sauce and asparagus. And it's, it's, uh, it's an old favorite. We, that was probably my first dish that was implanted on the menu here an eon ago, it feels like. I love it. I mean, in anything with Oscar on top of it, it's just perfect. I mean, he does a filet Oscar. He does salmon Oscar scallop Oscar. It's the same setup, but it's just wonderful. And going back to Churrasco, we had it on the menu over the summer and it was just great. I mean, people loved it. It's just the seasoning, the sauce was just great. Yeah, chimichurri, chimichurri. Yeah, that's right. And then for our appetizers, um, you know, uh, right now we've got, uh, an in on some great oysters coming out of the Chingatee. The salt is better than it's been in years in them. They're nice and plump. So we've got a half dozen oysters. Cheers. And then my favorite is, uh, the duck spring roll. Um, it was, uh, just, yeah, it's really good. I'm getting very hungry right now. I was gonna say, uh, even though I just ate an hour ago, I'm already getting hungry. Can I ask you guys about Oscar? Can I ask a dumb question? What does that mean? So Oscar, typically, uh, it relates to the preparation of the coutrement to the dish, the sides. So you have to have crab. You have to have asparagus and you have to have holidays. Oh, I'm in on all three. That's great, right? That's not to last. That's great. They settled for Oscar because good was already taken. How's the steak? It's good. It's really good. I'm going to ask for Oscar. Always ask for Oscar. Yeah, always ask for Oscar. And then for desserts, um, My wife used to be the pastry chef here, uh, and we still use her crème brûlée dish, so we try to always have crème brûlée. I can't come here with my mom or talk about this place with my mom without her talking about crème brûlée. Fun fact. Yeah, it's still my wife's recipe. She, uh, she trained our pastry chef to make it and, uh, he's made it for a long time. And she's, she comes in and still enjoys it herself. She's not a pastry chef anymore. She's just You know, runs my life in our restaurants, uh, she doesn't do the pastry thing anymore. Uh, and then a new dessert that we're playing with on the menu that we're hoping to gain some popularity. It's on our regular dessert menu and we're going to actually offer it on the restaurant week menu as an affogato du jour. And so we have this really nice, um, espresso machine that we brought over from Italy. We have decaf and regular espresso. And we serve that with a fresh scoop. Um, gelato. So, um, I think that the flavors we're knocking around right now, we're gonna do a sea salt, caramel, um, affogato that week, and then we're doing, we're thinking about doing a, like a smoked hazelnut one with bourbon. So, yeah, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're having a good time with, with those. And then, you know, obviously, I was gonna say, the, uh, the espresso tasting has gone very nicely, too. Having an espresso machine in I was going to say, when are the Espresso Martini happy hours starting? Oh, soon. Soon. Actually. Oh, good. So during that week, we do still have some pretty good, um, specials that are, so happy hour will not be available that week just due to the overwhelming desire for, um, for restaurant week. I mean, we really want to fill the seats up. That makes sense. Um, but, um, the, uh, Otherwise, you know, the menu itself is 35. We will have a supplemental 25 three course wine pairing with it as well. We're working with a winery out of Washington State called Matthews, which is a pretty nice, pretty good red wine house. That sounds amazing. Should I make my reservation before I leave here? Yeah. Is there any room left to make reservations? Yeah, reservation. We do open table and you can call the restaurant. Okay. Um, you can go to our website and click through our website, uh, to get to the open table link for our restaurant. So that's villagesquarerestaurant. com if you just spell out Village Square Restaurant all the way. Or you can call, um, us, 540 667 8961. VillageSquareRestaurant. com It's been a number here, 22 years. We've been in 22 years. We're blessed. I put that number on everything. Everything. People answer and they're like, somebody just called for you and I'm like, who is it? And it's like somebody from JCPenney. That's like the only Do you have your personal handout phone number for the last 20 odd years? It's like my parents number and then the work number and that's it. That's only three numbers that are in my head. Alright, I've got one last question for you that I think is kind of fun, but other than Village Square, and I'm also not, can't be Water Street either, what restaurant would you visit during restaurant week? Where would you pick for a date? Night out? Oh, man, that's hard. That is hard. And I want an answer from both of you. Sarah does that sometimes. That's hard. Uh, I I would do the whole tour. I mean it, yeah. I mean, I, we, we've had people that have, have basically done as many restaurants as possible, and some people would just come in. And just, and just do like a, yeah, yeah, that's a good point, but some people, you get the deal all day long, but some people break it up, you know, they come in just for certain courses and just to taste everything that's on the menu. I love that. So I mean, that's, that's probably the best way to, to go about restaurant week is to just spread it out. So we should do a passport system for restaurant week next year is what I'm hearing. Dude, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's crazy. I think that's a great idea, and did we try that before, in the past, or? I don't know. I don't know. I usually just cook the food. Yeah, I, I, I think the idea Dan's not the details man. I'm also the looks. I know what that feels like. That's why we bring Kit too. I had to do my hair for you guys today. I figured I would outdo Dan Hoffman. And he knows what Dan Hoffman always showed on this interview. To be fair, he had the flu. I will give him a break. I hope you feel better. I do have a follow up question actually related to that. So, um, talk to us a little bit about Winchester's restaurant scene overall. I mean, what do you think about it? I mean, it seems like we're pack. What is it? What is the saying? We pack above her, our weight, punch above our weight. That's what it is. We pack a punch, a punch above our weight as far as restaurants. What do you guys think? I think, uh, yeah, I mean, we've seen some really strong, uh, things open in the last two years, the, you know, uh, The cider house is just unbelievable. Everything Stephen's doing there is just, I mean, just world class cider maker. I mean, that guy is unbelievable. And then, you know, this renaissance of Piccadilly Street, obviously, you know, our friends, our friends over at Paladin, Dan, Dan at Paladin is like, oh man, he just drives it home. Everything he does, that building is perfect. Um, you know, everything that, that they did there, just the rooftop bar, Took so long for Winchester to get a rooftop bar. Oh, yeah, it was. And then just, you know, you work your way down the hall, but it's like you can't forget about Violinos. Like, Violinos, in my opinion, I mean, Violinos is the longest standing restaurant down here. And, and, and Franco just what Winchester needed when they came and they're still what Winchester needs to this day because they show up They're still in their business. They still, you know, create everybody, you know, in this town, loves them. We love them, everything that they're about, you know, their family restaurant, Dean and I have daughters and we're trying to get them involved in our restaurant now. And, you know, we've watched it with, with down there and, and, and they are just, uh, you know, cornerstone. And now, you know, we have some other, you know, TT walls just opened and, you know, they, they're kind of doing a spin on, um, Southern cuisine and, you You'll be there tomorrow. Yeah, that's our next interview. Stop. Yeah. And you know, they, they're, they're, they're, you know, they're good old friends of ours, um, from back when, you know, they had, you know, the Taylor Wine Room and Valerie Hills, Sean and Tyler, and, you know, just, you know, you have other restaurants kind of opening in the tertiary areas, you know, with Bas Gowan obviously Sexy Me. Oh, yes. Whew. I couldn't make it through a week without a lunch from Sexy Max. I don't think that's good. Yeah, and you get to sit and talk to Charlie too. Charlie from S Beverage. Charlie, she's the best. There's just a lot of good growth, you know, a lot of love, you know, at the end of the question, but I don't think it's oversaturated. I think it's just grown at the right pace. And I tell Dan all the time. There's I mean, the growth of Winchester is just booming. I mean, it's just enormous. I mean, you see it on Pleasant Valley when you just go down just to go to Martin's. It takes me probably 2030 minutes just to get down there. I mean, it's just growing. So I say within five, 10 years and everything keeps going the way it's going with restaurants and people that actually, you know, are rooted in this community, it's going to be a great, great scene, especially, and I love being a part of it. I mean, we've been here since the beginning and go back to Violinos. I remember 2003 when Violinos was basically the only spot down here. Yeah. And I remember what this mall looked like and what it is, what, what, what it is now and becoming. Is that a fair statement? Yeah. I mean, comparing downtown Winchester from when I was a kid in the late 80s and 90s through what renaissance in the 2000s and then with the renovation in 2014 it's So drastically different. So different. But, uh, downtown in every city is usually the heartbeat of that city, that area. I mean, that's why it's important to keep downtown going. That's why it's important to support it. It's important to have people like, um, like us, like you said, TT Walls, Violinos, people like, that are just rooted in the community that want to become part of something great. You know, so it's great. Us too. You like friends of Old Town? Yeah. EDA are looking out for us. You know, we've got some are good friends at the EDA. Yeah. Our great friends at the EDA. Brady. Over. Brady. Brady. Over at uh, friends of Old Town. Friends of Old Town. Yeah. And, and, and you know, we've got a lot of people looking out for us and, and the growth that we're expecting actually, you know, and not only people know this, but you know, d and I are looking to expand our company as well by another restaurant, hopefully year in the, this fiscal year and just reinvest in the community and create more jobs and. And, uh, you know, raise the bar and just keep growing with the community. Um, like I said, we have a kid, both of us are raising our children here in the city limits. My children, both of our children, you know, you know, are, you know, all of us, all three, we have, I have two, yes. But you're combined children. Yeah, all three of us. Sorry, all three of us. All three of us. They're all girls. All your girls. That's our girl. That's actually the name of our, the name of our company, is our daughter's name. Oh, I love that. Yeah. And so, you know, we're just, we're blessed to be dads and we're blessed to, you know, have, have, you know, to service Winchester. So to back to, uh, where I would eat. Yes. Oh, yes. I'm very curious. So funny. I had to look, I had to look. I saw you researching. I was just giving you time, Dan. I had to look at the list and I did. Absolutely. And it's, it, you know, it, I forgot that our friends from Saver. We're on there this year. Yes, they are. There are next, there are stop after T. T. Rawls. So Brandon and Tracy, we freaking love you. I'm, sorry, you're at the other end of town. We can't wait to come see you. So yes, i'm probably gonna eat it safer and then um I love you and Jax. They got a good burger. I might have to go there. See like I said the best way is just to Toward the whole thing. Jason's doing a good job bringing, uh, oh. He's, he's, he's doing great, Jack. Yeah. He's doing a great job over there. We love that. He's actually, he's my next door neighbor at home and my next door neighbor at work, And never, never gets awkward for you. It never does. Like, but we see each other walking in and out of work in our houses every day. It's crazy. Um, Florida League cheese shop is, you know, one I'm a cheese head and they, they kill it every so is Kit. Yeah. You know, like I said, everywhere you go, uh, I typically during Restaurant Week, uh, every year feel the need to go to Cork Street because I just love it. I love Cork Street. D& I is like our little hangout spot late night, kind of, we want to talk business. Cork Street, we just go over there and grab a burger and a cold beer and the service is always spectacular. It's got a lot of history. Yeah. It's just, it's You just feel comfortable there. It's kind of like our, uh Our town pub, you know? Yeah, yeah. Like everybody belongs there. I had a burger there a couple of weeks ago for lunch that just blew my mind. Yeah, man. Plays rocks. It was amazing. They play caps games. It's even better. We used to. Oh, oh man. Yeah. That's fun. Yeah. So, you know, we're just like, you know, we've been here a long time and we love the city and everything that it's about and you know, and, and man the food here has just gotten better and better and better and the people appreciate it. It shows downtown and, and, um. I think, you know, the, the, we can only say this, but it's because the city cares about us. The people do, the actual city, you know, they make sure that the mall is cleared. You know, we, you know, we couldn't, we couldn't do what we do without the city, the city workers down here taking care of our streets, you know, with all this terrible weather we have coming. Um, and, and, and, and we're blessed. We really are blessed to have a city that cares about a, a business center this way. And, uh, I think that's, you know, the truly from our hearts, you know, thank you. The city of Winchester for Thank you. You know, taking care of us down here.'cause, you know, people have to actually walk to get to our restaurants. You know, you can't just park in front of'em. Right. And without the city taking care, making it look so beautiful every day, we wouldn't, we wouldn't be able to do it. People wouldn't wanna come back down here. It's the heartbeat of the city. It is the heartbeat of the city. And it's, it's downtown getting louder. Downtown. It's getting louder. It is. And it, and, and, uh, strong. every day. 5 10 years. I it's gonna be, it's gonna Unless he's sick. Unless he's sick. He was so upset to miss this, by the way. Of all, of all, Dan A. loves interviews. I know you're shocked by that information. Um, but missing out on anything restaurant related, too, and time to hang out with you, Dan, he was very upset. I'm looking forward to this. That is true. For quite a while. He, yeah, he was so upset. We'll have to do, like, we'll have to do, like, an in meal interview with Dan during restaurants. Yes, there you go. Yeah, there you go. That'd be great. Well, thank you so much to Village Square for having us. I hope everybody gets a chance to come out and taste their menu during restaurant week or any time really. Yeah, so, uh, just Village Square's typical hours were 11 30 to nine o'clock because we want to be home, put our kids in bed, um, Monday to Friday, uh, Monday, Saturday, Monday, Saturday, and Sunday we do brunch. Uh, from 11. 30 to 2. 30, we're going to be expanding. We're going to start opening Sunday dinner because we feel that the presence downtown is there. Fantastic. And so both Water Street and Biller Square will start opening for dinner, um, Mother's Day, uh, through the summer. Awesome. Um, just because we, we see that the people are downtown on Sundays now. And, um, so we're, it's helping us grow our business this year. I'm pretty excited about that. Amazing. Well, thank you guys so much for having us. for having us. so much. Hopefully everybody gets to come visit during restaurant week. Perfect, we'll be here. Alright, take care. Welcome back to our next segment on the Rouse Review. Now we are here with the team at TT Walls. So, I'm going to let them introduce themselves. My name is Tyler Newcomb. I'm Sean Steffi. My name is Jeffrey Wilson. And Jeff is the chef here at TT Walls, and Sean and Tyler are the owners. So I want to talk to you guys about Restaurant Week, obviously, but correct me if I'm wrong, this is the newest restaurant on The Walking Mall, correct? To our knowledge, we're the most recent restaurant to open. Fantastic. Hopefully there'll be more. Oh, always. But, as the quote unquote new guys, what made you want to participate in Restaurant Week? Well, with our sister restaurant, uh, the Wine Room, we've been participating since the inception of that restaurant, and it's a great way to bring some people in that might be interested. Thank you. Not considered, one, dining in downtown Winchester, but might not choose your restaurant. And, uh, from past experience, we've gained valuable regulars from, um, our one week participation in restaurant week. Wouldn't you say, Tyler? Yes, that's correct. Fantastic. We love to hear that. All right. So your guys's whole hook on cuisine is kind of a real relook at classic Southern cuisine. Is that right? Absolutely. And it sounds like you have a really fantastic prefix menu set up for restaurant. We could love to hear more about what's on tap. Absolutely. So for starters, we're going to do our house peanut soup, which is already on the menu, but we've gotten such positive feedback from that that we can't necessarily. Absolutely. really argue for having a different one on there. It's a pretty awesome soup. Um, it comes from Tyler's family. Uh, that's where we got the recipe from. And, uh, we've made some slight alterations to it, but we've tried to stay true to the original Newcomb family recipe. Um, uh, we're also going to be doing, uh, some grilled oysters, uh, kind of a flash take on oysters Rockefeller, but with a little bit of a sudden twist and doing beach onions with it instead of spinach. Um, That's a little bit more on the drawing board at the moment. Um, and also a cornbread salad, kind of a variation on Pantanea. Just, uh, cornbread croutons, which you already make for our Caesar salad. And, um, dressing that up in a different kind of way. It's like that salad you see after church on Sunday. Right. I was gonna say that sounds like a good hearty, like, Um, after that, we're going to be doing the chicken fried steak, which is basically just a perforated cube steak, um, deep fried. Um, we're also going to be doing our quail dish, which we try to get, I think that was a Thanksgiving special when we first did that around. So we're going to be doing, going back to quail, uh, just for restaurant week because we had a lot of success with that special as well. Um, and then, um, basically, uh, steam sea bass. Which is not necessarily directly a southern dish, but, um, it's easy enough to pair with a lot of other, uh, southern staples. Um, Collard greens. Oh, and in this town, there's never enough seafood on any menu ever. Right. Exactly. Um, and, and, and that's one of the things I noticed is that for such an inland town, this place has a lot of seafood going on. Um, and then for a vegetarian option, we're going to be doing vegetable stuffed peppers. Ooh. Sounds delicious. Um, after that, for dessert, we're, we're gonna be doing a lemon meringue pie. Um, a hot chocolate pudding and bananas fosters for the first time. Ooh, I wouldn't even know where to start. Can you like, just get all three desserts as part of restaurant week? You'd have to come three nights. Oh, that's good. Oh, I like the way you think. Um, so we're sitting here at your beautiful bar. Do you have any cocktail specials or anything that you're offering for restaurant week? We're unsure yet. Um, but our southern inspired cocktails are extremely popular. And we are probably the only people in town that are using pawpaw fruits. Um, in our cocktail menu, so you can probably look for some of that. Oh, that sounds delicious. All right, um, so we've talked kind of about the menu and all of that, but what is Your you've done restaurant week before with um the wine room So what is your favorite part of like the ambiance and the feel of restaurant week? Oh, that's a tough one Give me a second on that. Yeah I think just to go back to what he said before about how it's a great way to get new people in here that wouldn't otherwise come around, um, with a lot of the other incentives that the walking mall, um, does, I mean, for instance, uh, Chocolate Escape, which is going on this week, I believe, um, you know, it's just, it's, it's a way for restaurants to explore and get out of their um, their regular menu and put something else out there that would otherwise attract people who wouldn't be coming here, would have no reason to come here, would have no interest coming here. I mean, it's something to advertise. Yeah, definitely. My favorite part of restaurant week is a full restaurant. It's uh, in a slow month, winter time is kind of hard on small businesses down here. Uh, so it's nice to get a full restaurant. Um, you know, get out of our comfort zone with the regular menu, like Jeff was saying, and bring out something different for everyone. You're definitely all the faces. It's great to walk out the back of the kitchen and see a full restaurant, people smiling, people laughing, people having a great time. You mean that doesn't normally happen in the middle of February? I'm shocked! Well, I mean, we do run nightly specials, or weekly specials, daily specials, um, I think it's, the difference here would be the price fix menu and having a full fledged menu. It's almost like having a little pop up restaurant in the middle of February, when you have the time and wherewithal to afford to be able to do these kind of things. Whereas, you know, in the busier seasons, I couldn't necessarily promise you that we're going to be able to put together a, You know, three item price fix menu, uh, week by week by week by week by week, you know, Jeff's worked really hard on the three course of Valentine's menu and then turning right around two days later and offering restaurant week menu, a completely different menu as well. So I think people are going to really love both of them. That's amazing. Where can people go to find your special menus? Do you guys have a website or a social media page? Yes, Facebook is huge for us. Um, so everything is always there. Or our website, uh, website, ttwalls. net. ttwallskitchen. net Fantastic. ttwallskitchen. net And We've, we've touched on it a little bit, but do you want to brag on the wine room for a minute? And talk about what they're offering for Restaurant Week as well? Well, you know, um, I gotta say, what a different location in all of downtown Winchester. If I had to choose the one spot that really stood out for being unique and different, um, the wine room's got that, like, New York City, um, Las Vegas feel to it, um, which is totally not Old Town Winchester, but, um, is totally perfect. For Old Town Winchester. I love to go back there and just have a cocktail with friends and Dan, Joel, and I were talking earlier in the podcast about your cocktail selection over there is just so elevated and fantastic, especially for Winchester. You know, and that's a direct response from a lot of our travel. Um, you know, we, we love to travel based on food and beverage. And you find that one location has this great cocktail. And then maybe if you're lucky the server will get you the recipe. Exactly. Which could have happened. I mean, hey, the most sincere form of flattery is complete theft, right? Absolutely. I was writing because I was impressed that you guys are, as far as I know, in Listentown, that serves Hendricks with cucumber instead of lime, and that makes all the difference. It's outside the box, you know. There's a lot of, you know, you can get a lot of really good cocktails in Winchester. Mm hmm. Um. It is the things that are different that stand out to me. That's amazing. Alright, my last question is maybe my hardest question. This is the one that tripped up Chef Dan over a village square. But pretend like you don't work in the restaurant industry, so don't own in a restaurant other than TT walls and the wine room. Where during restaurant week would you hit up first to go have a special date night, or just to kind of try something new? Where would be your number one style? Well, I'll start with that. I mean, obviously Village Square is a staple. As a matter of fact, I think one of my first dates was at Village Square many years ago. That was before Chef Dan was even in town, I believe. It's a staple. Gosh, I think Here, I'm going to pass this to you. Yeah, no, no, not at all. I would definitely say, obviously, I would agree with Villa Square. Um, our friends over at Union Jack, um, have really elevated the food recently. Uh, and definitely, uh, Manalette's here in the walking mall as well. That, that's a great, great restaurant. Oh, I could rave forever about Manalette's, but just the table side pilaf alone is enough to really drive me crazy. 100 percent agree. 100 percent agree with that. Um, I've only been in Winchester for about two years now, so I would be probably looking at the places that I've never actually been before. Villa Square, I have not had the, the ability to, um, have dinner there. You Yeah, you know, it's, it's um, you know, uh, uh, time is at a premium. Uh, Metaletti's, uh, I've been over there once, uh, with these guys actually. They took me out for dinner once, once upon a time, and, uh, I'd like to go back. I definitely had a fantastic experience over there. Um, and again, uh, just to piggyback on what Tyler was saying, um, I, I can't say anything bad about Union Jack, um, They have, they have really stepped up their game recently and are just, they're fantastic and they're getting better. Jason has done such a great job over there. In such a short time as well. That's fantastic. Well thanks to all of you guys for letting us come in and get a peek behind the scenes at Restaurant Week. We're so excited. So one last thing, what's the best way for people to make reservations? Because I assume reservations are kind of necessary. So the best way for reservations is to text us. Interesting. Okay. Absolutely. It's personalized service. Love it. We get your reservation, you get a confirmation. Um, and the number is 3 3 3 9 800. Okay. You can do reservations online as well, but, um, Texas, we're happy to help you personally. Oh, that's amazing. All right. Well, hopefully everybody gets to stop by and visit you guys during restaurant week. And thank you so much again. Absolutely. My pleasure. Here we are, we are here at Saver. Now is the full name Saver by Crush? Yes, Saver by Crush. Saver by Crush. Now, it's Saver by Crush because, let folks know, there's actually a second restaurant. Today we're talking about Saver, but, uh, Saver was actually kind of started, for lack of a better way to put it, just around the corner at Crush. Uh, so, tell us about it. Real quick, what is Crush, and what is Savor, and why, why a second place? Sure, so, uh, Crush Wine Bar is a wine and tapas focused restaurant, we do have a limited selection of beers and cocktails as well, but wine and small shareable plates are the main focus, and, uh, we are coming up on our eighth year down at Crush, and so two years ago we decided, talking after work one night, getting cleaned up, myself and the owners, uh huh. How nice it would be when we go to the city, when we go out of town to visit. These nice higher end prefix restaurants, and that it would be really nice if there was one in the area Yeah, and then you know finished workday open a bottle of wine and a couple glasses later We decided why don't we just do it there you go? And you had a space right here around the corner for folks who remember back this used to be Sarah What was it the butcher station for those of you haven't been back in this part of the shopping center? It's where the butcher station used to be Now I'm remiss You Introduce yourself, Marshall, uh, for folks who have not been into the restaurant. Sure, I am Marshall Middleton. I'm the general manager of Savor by Crush and Crush Wine Bar. Okay, excellent. How long have you been with this team? I have been with the team two and a half years, um, and I've known the owners here for about five, six years probably. I met them shortly after they opened Crush at a charity event. Gotcha. Fantastic. Now, for those of you, uh, who, for people who have not been to Saver, it is a different experience than I think they would get in a lot of Winchester restaurants. Talk about the difference between, uh, Saver and another fine dining experience that they might find in Winchester. So, at Saver, we are really focused on seasonal food, keeping things nice and fresh, uh, working as much as we can with some local partners in the area. Um, we make changes to our menu every month, uh, whether that's, you know, typically we have eight or nine items on the menu, uh, starters, entrees, and desserts. We offer a salad course, um, a mousse bouche, intermezzo, things like that as well. And it is a five course prefix dinner, so every month we make a few changes, sometimes that's two to three items that change, plus a couple of sides might go out and something more seasonal will come in. that's it. And then every season it's a completely new menu. So if you're here having dinner and you come back in three months, there will not be a single item on the menu that was here when you were here three months ago. Yeah, I noticed when we got here that, uh, particularly in your bar program, you've got a lot of Virginia, uh, distillers. Uh, when we came in, Fox Urban Farms was dropping off some stuff. Yes. So, clearly a big emphasis on, on that. Local, uh, or at least within the state, uh, for a lot of products, which is as much as we can, as long as we don't have to sacrifice a quality of something just for it to be local. I mean, we would rather get. A quality product in that's a little further away. Uh, but everything we can and we're lucky in this area to have a whole lot of really phenomenal places to get products. So it's a prefix menu. Um, but there's also seating times. Do you guys still do those? Yes. So you don't just kind of show up. Yeah, exactly. You know, this is definitely a place where you make a reservation. And how do people make reservations? Yes. So, on our website, we use a program called HostMe that can also be accessed through Google or through HostMe directly, but we've got links on our website as well. Um, we do seatings. Wednesday through Saturday between 5 and 7. 30, every 30 minutes we take six customers. There you go. Very small, very intimate. Uh, now of course we're here because of restaurant week. Uh, what are you guys offering for restaurant week? So for restaurant week we are calling it a taste of savor. It's going to be a slightly pared down menu. But two will be able to dine for the price of one of our normal menus. Oh wow. So typically we offer a five course plus an amuse bouche and intermezzo. Um, for Restaurant Week, two people for 99, and it'll be a three course meal plus the amuse bouche. Gotcha. Okay, fantastic. Excellent. Oh, a hundred. Want to just re record real quick? Yeah. Yeah. Uh, let's just, I'll just ask the same question over again. Sure. So, we're here for Restaurant Week, what are we, uh, what are you guys offering? So, we are offering a two dine for one package, it's 100 a couple. And it includes three courses instead of our typical five courses plus an amuse bouche. Excellent. So, talk a little bit about what it's like operating a business in Winchester, a restaurant in Winchester. Uh, Some things, any tips you might give to folks who think that, Oh, this is just, yeah, I'll just open a restaurant. You know, they don't necessarily realize that this is a really difficult business to make it in. What tips would you give to somebody looking to do business in the area, or looking to start a, looking to open a restaurant? What advice would you give them? If I was going to give advice, I would say try to do something different. You know, we've got a lot of great pizza places. We have a lot of great Asian restaurants and things like that, but it's always nice to get variety. Yeah. And if you can do something that's standout and it's quality, I don't think that you'll have a problem. There you go. All right. Final question. Final question. Everybody has been asked this so far. All right. And you can't, if you weren't an employee, if you had to eat somewhere else for restaurant week, other than. Savor or crush? Where would you go? In Winchester? I will be eating at several other places during restaurant week. You can name more than one. You can name more than one, it doesn't have to just be one. Um, I mean, some of my favorite places in town are participating. I love Menelete's. Um, I also used to work at Piccadilly's and they always put on a really good menu for restaurant week. The meatloaf there is also just so good. Um, Village Square always stands out. There you go. I tend to go to Vialino's every restaurant week. That seems to be the answer. Those are probably my top choices. Literally every single person has given is Vialino's. Yeah, everyone throws in Vialino's. I think somebody mentioned Maniletti's as well. Uh huh, uh huh. Um, yeah. All fantastic options. Just goes to show, uh, plenty of different great options here for restaurant week. Uh, thank you Marshall very much for taking a few minutes and I'll let you guys get ready for opening. Thank you all for coming in. Thanks. Cheers. All right. That's our show. Stick around next week or two weeks. Sorry. On the next Rouse review, we're going to, like I said earlier, talk about the budget. Uh, we are going to have a special mailbag episode. Send us your questions about the budget. We will answer them here on the podcast. Uh, if you don't want your name mentioned. We don't have to mention your name. Uh, I may just say a first name or whatnot, but, uh, We can give you a fun name too. We can give you a fun name as well. Uh, so send us an email. Email your questions at sarah with an h. fry at winchesterva. gov. And until then, we'll see you around city hall.